Early vote totals showed Snohomish County Councilman Brian Sullivan, a Democrat, well on his way to earning a second term. Fellow Democrat Stephanie Wright, who was appointed to her County Council seat last year, also led her Republican opponent by a sizeable margin. Incumbent Assessor Cindy Portmann, in a nonpartisan race, had a commanding 68 percent of the vote.
Results in County Council’s District 3 showed Wright with 10,982 votes and Republican Kathy Vaughn with 7,356, or nearly 60 percent of the votes to 40 percent.
“I’m feeling really grateful to the voters,” Wright said. “Seeing the percentages, I think they’ll hold.”
Wright, 39, for more than a year has represented the council seat covering the areas of Lynnwood, Edmonds and Woodway. The County Council appointed her to fill the post after Mike Cooper left to become Edmonds mayor. Before that, the Democrat served on Lynnwood City Council and worked as a high school teacher and librarian.
Vaughn knew things weren’t going in her favor, but she wasn’t ready to concede.
“I’m hoping that we gain on her as they count votes,” she said. ”I have a long way to go to catch up, but I’m always hopeful.”
Vaughn, 61, is serving her third term as a nonpartisan commissioner with the Snohomish County PUD. Vaughn, who is running as a Republican in the county race, also owns a mortgage company.
In the race to lead the county Assessor’s Office, votes tallied so far made Portmann almost a sure shot to keep her job. The wide margin surprised her.
“I think people believe that their assessments are fair and accurate,” Portmann said. “We’ve done a lot of work to educate people on how our property tax system works.”
Portmann, 55, of Snohomish, is running for a third term overseeing the county’s property assessments and tax levies. She has worked in the office since the late 1980s.
Challenger Chris Vallo, 53, of Lake Stevens sought to capitalize on voter discontent over the county’s assessed property values compared to what the properties would fetch on the open market. Vallo said he believed the assessments were too high, even taking into consideration the year or so that assessments, by design, trail the actual real estate market.
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